Spanish embassy in Egypt is warned to expect trouble

After humour magazine asks 'What does Mohammed look like?'

MADRID The embassy in Cairo asked Spanish citizens in Egypt to take 'extreme precautions' because El Jueves, a satyrical magazine in Spain,published illustrations and text on Mohammed. The request comes in the wake of violent unrest throughout the Islamic world after a film from the US and a French magazine of the same vein as Spain's. The embassy confirmed yesterday that it had asked the Egyptian authorities for more safeguards at the embassy, consulate and Instituto Cervantes buildings in Cairo and elsewhere. The complete front cover of El Jueves reads: "But ... does anybody know what Mohammed looks like?"

Moroccan Gibraltarians concerned about community's ties to terrorism

Illustration only

Resentment against police among youth reported

GIBRALTAR (Agencies) The Moroccan business community is worried that the youth of their community are reading radical jihadist websites, according to a recent media items on the Rock. The Imam of the Line Wall mosque, Abdoul Samade , is leading an initiative to integrate Gibraltar-born Moroccans into the wider community following concerns about some resentment among younger citizens towards authority and the police.  The religious leader adds that he is trying to impart that to today’s youth. He says young Moroccans are resentful of the Gibraltar Government and the Royal Gibraltar Police, and believes their views are distorted.>>>

Millions of Muslims in Spain begin Ramadan tomorrow

Main Mosque, Granada

SPAIN Over two million people living in Spain are Muslim, according to the Islamic community. All of them are called to start Ramadan tomorrow evening (as soon as they can see the new moon in Spain), a period of fasting that begins on the ninth lunar month and will last for the next thirty days. However, children, the elderly, pregnant or menstruating women are exempt, according to Ahmed Bermejo, who heads the Main Mosque in Granada. "If fasting is bad for your health, for whatever reason, then it is suggested you don't fast," says Bermejo. "We judge ourselves, and answer to ourselves. Each of us runs our relationship with Allah as best we can." The fact that Ramadan comes in the summer this year, worries some Muslims because most tend to be strict about it, and the intense heat can cause health problems. About two people a month convert to Islam in Spain, says the head of the Granada Mosque. "The way the world is these days, people are seeking help, and religion offers a different viewpoint," he says.

Islamic community asks Ombudsman to help in their quest for a cemetery

ALGECIRAS (Agencies/Photo: illustration only) The Islamic community took advantage of a visit from the Ombudsman of Andalucía (Defensor del Pueblo Andaluz), José Chamizo (photo), to ask him for help in bringing about a cemetery and social centre in Algeciras. The president of the community organization, Kamal Cheddad, gave Chamizo a report detailing its activities over the past year. Cheddad said that they wanted the Ombudsman to intervene on their behalf with the Council, as they had been asking for negotiations for several months. There are over 7,000 Muslims residents in Algeciras, according to the organization, wo find it very difficult to bury their dead. hese have to be taken to another town for burial, or to Morocco, with the high cost this involves.

El Saladillo parish priest and imam cooperate in helping others: "Hunger has no colour or religion"

ALGECIRAS (Photo: EuropaSur) - Religious differences are put aside when it comes to helping the less forunate. That is so, at least, in the downtrodden section of Algeciras known as El Saladillo. Yelman Bustamante Solórzano (centre), the parish priest of Santa María, and the local mosque's imam and president of the muslim community, Kamal Cheddad (right), and its vice-president, Khalid Meziane Yaala, have managed to bring their efforts together whereby the local chapter of Cáritas, the Catholic charity, will also be distributing food and other help through the mosque in areas such as El Saladillo, La Piñera, Pescadores, Los Pastores and Cortijo Vides, where many families are in great need. Father Bustamante, who met the other two over three years ago and have become fast friends, says, "They have always known that at this parish there is no difference of colour, race or creed. Hunger has no colour or religion.">